Motor vehicles typically include a differential on the drive axle to transmit torque produced by an engine to driven wheels of the vehicle. The differential allows the driven wheels to rotate at different speeds relative to each other. This allows the outer wheel to rotate faster than the inner wheel when the vehicle is turning.
A typical differential includes a ring gear meshing with a pinion gear that is fixed to a driveshaft. A differential carrier is fixed to the ring gear and is supported for rotation within a housing of the differential. The carrier supports a pair of side gears and a pair of spider gears in meshing engagement with the side gears. The side gears are driveably connected to the driven wheels. The spider gears transmit torque from the carrier to the side gears to propel the vehicle.
Limited-slip differentials are also known. A common type utilizes clutch packs to create a power-flow path directly from the carrier to one of the side gears when one of the driven wheels is slipping. These types of differentials are useful in situations where one of the driven wheels has high traction and the other has low traction. These types of differentials are not capable of disconnecting the carrier from the driven wheels, which is advantageous in some situations.
This disclosure provides solutions to these and other problems.